Flash Content

United States Board of Directors

Terry E. Winters, Ph.D., Chairman

Dr. Winters, in addition to his role as CEO and Chairman of VTI, is a Special Limited Partner of Valley Ventures (1999-present) and also a General Partner of Columbine Venture Funds (1984-present), both venture capital funds specializing in investments in the Southwest. Valley Ventures is based in Phoenix, Arizona and has over $75 million under management (www.valleyventures.com). Dr. Winters focuses on life science and health care investments. He has formerly been a director of many private companies and several public companies, including CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, Orthologic Corp. and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals. From 1977 to 1983, Dr. Winters was with Diamond Shamrock Corp., and served as Vice President of DS Ventures, their venture capital subsidiary that invested in several life science companies, including Immunex Corp. From 1968-1977, he was with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co as a Research Chemist and then as Manager of Licensing. He holds a B.Sc. and PhD in chemistry from the University of Wales, U.K. and did a post-doctoral fellowship at UCLA. He was born in the UK and immigrated to the US, becoming a citizen in 1973.

Ross A. Jaffe, M.D., Member

Dr. Jaffe specializes in early-stage investing in medical devices. He brings significant clinical insight and venture capital experience to Versant's investing efforts. Ross co-founded Versant Ventures in 1999 after spending nine years at Brentwood Venture Capital where, as a general partner, he led investments in medical devices, drug delivery, and healthcare information systems companies. Dr. Jaffe is a board-certified internist, having completed his residency training in Internal Medicine/Primary Care at the University of California, San Francisco, where he remained a part-time attending physician until 1995. Before and during medical school, he was an Analyst for Lewin and Associates, a healthcare consulting firm, and a Research Associate at Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Jaffe has served as a director of St. Francis Medical Technologies (sold), Therasense (sold), Novacept (sold), Micro Interventional Systems (sold), Aradigm (public), Webster Laboratories (sold), Atrionix (sold), and Pro•Duct Health (sold). He currently serves on the boards of Ablation Frontiers, Acclarent, Calypso Medical Technologies, Insulet, Portaero and Vital Therapies. Ross earned his BA in Policy Studies from Dartmouth in 1980, his MD from Johns Hopkins in 1985, and his MBA from Stanford in 1990.

J. Michael Millis, M.D., Member

Dr. J. Michael Millis is Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Section of Transplantation at the University of Chicago. He graduated in 1985 with high honors from the University of Tennessee with his MD. Dr. Millis completed his Surgical Residency, Clinical and Research Fellowship in Liver Transplantation at the University of California at Los Angeles. He currently serves on the medical staff at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Dr. Millis' clinical interests are in liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery, Dr. Millis' current research explores the application of cellular technology on patient care. Dr. Millis is investigating how hepatocyte transplantation, extracorporeal assist technology and stem cells can assist in the care of patients with liver disease or liver tumors. Dr. Millis has been associated with ELAD® since 1994, and he was an investigator on the Phase I clinical trial. He became the chairman of the Vital Therapies Clinical Advisory Board in 2003 and chair of the China Clinical Advisory Board in 2004. Dr. Millis currently serves or has served in the past on a variety of committees, such as the AASLD Ethics Committee, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation Scientific Advisory Board and Publication and Research Committee, and the ROBI Liver Intestinal Subcommittee, for which he is the former chairman. Dr. Millis is also a MAC and Board Member for the ALF Illinois Chapter. He also serves on the Board of Director of Gift of Hope (the Organ procurement organization for Illinois) and the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Transplantation, Transplantation, and Liver Transplantation.

Randolph C. Steer, M.D., Ph.D., Member

Dr. Steer has been an independent pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices consultant since 1989. He has a broad background in business development, medical marketing, and regulatory and clinical affairs, having served as a consultant to many corporations in the United States and abroad. He has also advised numerous venture capital firms, investment banks and independent investors on the commercial development of drugs, biologics, diagnostics and medical devices. Dr. Steer has served as Associate Director of Medical Affairs at Marion Laboratories; Medical Director at Ciba Consumer Pharmaceuticals (Ciba-Geigy Corporation); Vice President, Senior Vice President and Member of the Executive Committee at Physicians World Communications Group; Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Therapeutics Communications International, a leading medical publishing, special symposia and drug regulatory group serving the United States, Mexico, Latin America, the Pacific Rim, Europe and Japan; and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vicus.com, Inc. Since April 2006, he has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Capstone Therapeutics (Nasdaq:CAPS) based in Tempe, AZ. Dr. Steer is a member of the Board of Directors of AmpliMed Corporation; R and D Systems [Techne Corporation (Nasdaq:TECH)]; and Vital Therapies Inc. He received his MD degree from the Mayo Medical School and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota where he also completed specialty and subspecialty training in clinical and chemical pathology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.

Charles T. Liamos, Member

Mr. Liamos is a general partner of MedVenture Associates V (MVA V). He has more than 10 years experience in finance and operations leadership positions and over 11 years in the diabetes market, developing technologies, and growing businesses. Prior to joining MVA, he was President and CEO of Fovioptics, Inc., a medical device company that focused on blood glucose monitoring. Mr. Liamos has also served as COO/CFO of TheraSense, Inc., and was a member of its Board of Directors. He joined TheraSense when it was a private company and was a key person involved with the company's successful IPO and later the sale of TheraSense to Abbott Laboratories. When Abbott acquired TheraSense in 2004, Mr. Liamos was named Group Vice President of Business Operations for Abbott Diabetes Care, and served on the committee that integrated TheraSense into its new parent company. Mr. Liamos has previously worked in operations management at LifeScan, a division of Johnson & Johnson. He began his career at General Electric. Mr. Liamos currently serves on the boards of Insulet Corporation, OptiScan Biomedical, Sonoma Orthopedic Products, Inc., PolyRemedy, SoundID, PAVAD Medical and Southern Implants. Mr. Liamos received a BS in Finance from the University of Vermont, Burlington and is a graduate of GE's Financial Management Program.

Phillip Croxford, Member

Mr. Croxford is the North American President for ArjoHuntleigh, Inc, a division of the Getinge AB Group, a global diversified medical device company. He directs their $300MM North American Safe Patient Handling, Disinfection, DVT, Medical Bed and Therapeutic Surfaces portfolio and is a member of the Executive Management team for Getinge' Extended Care Division. Mr. Croxford has over 10 years of experience in "" level positions with direct P & L and international experience with Fortune 500 companies. His leadership experience includes consumer, OTC pharmaceutical and medical device companies both at public and divisional board levels. His roles have included the management of operations, R&D, business development, marketing, mergers and acquisitions and international sales channel development, strategic marketing and new product development. He has worked in both the EU and the US and has had 10+ years of Asian market experience. Mr. Croxford received his B.Sc., Pharmacy from the University of Manchester and an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, UK. He is also a Chartered Marketer with the Royal Institute of Marketing and a Registered Pharmacist with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.